UNI pounded Turkey 87-65 in their first game of the second round of pool play...Koch had 20 and Josten had 19 to lead UNI...they should be able to beat China next, and advance to the quarterfinal round.
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UNI pounded Turkey 87-65 in their first game of the second round of pool play...Koch had 20 and Josten had 19 to lead UNI...they should be able to beat China next, and advance to the quarterfinal round.
Didn't Lithuania beat them pretty bad couple days ago ?
Do the other teams consist of similar aged players? I'm proud of UNI going out there and representing the US, but are they going against the best of the best in those countries?
I would guess it is not the best of the best, it is probably a 20 an under team.
The other teams roster's are made up of player's that are anywhere from 18-24...They are basically playing against the top player's 24 and under from other countries. Rumor has it, at least a couple of the Lithuanian players will be playing in Beijing in '08.
Ben Jacobsen has a blog about it on the UNI site (albiet a couple days behind). Sounds like through two games they have already lost Kwadzo? and Reed (Carlton) to injury. The former is out 4-6 weeks, the latter maybe longer.
UNI beat up on China 88-51...now they take on either Serbia or Russia in the quarterfinals...I think it's Serbia but I'm not for sure. Will be a tough game for them regardless.
If UNI does well, they may be ranked in the Top 25.
Edit...tough break for the Panthers...Turkey upset Lithuania creating a three way tie between the three teams with only two advancing, and despite beating Turkey by 22, the US is the odd team out...now they can only finish 9th through 12th.
How does Turkey beat Lithuania??? Did UNI come out that flat in the first game? I assumed Lithuania would have cruised through that game... Was it set up just to make sure USA didn't advance?(wouldnt doubt that for a minute).
If you read Jacobsen's blog it sounded like it took a half for UNI to adjust to the international rules and stlye of play - which surprisingly to me anyway he describes as "more physical".
Lithuania was a really bad draw for our first game out - I take it it came down to a points differentail for who advanced?
Turkey over Lithuania was definately a big upset...Lithuania looked like the stinkin dream team it's first three games before the loss...the tiebraker went off of point differential between the three teams in their head to head matchups...Lithuania was +23, Turkey was -11, and USA was -12...ouch! Supposively, Turkey was even fouling intentionally with the lead at the end of the Lithuania game to send them to the line, so they could make up the point differential...sidenote-Kavailaskas (sp???) from A@M starts for Lithuania.
Well now the Des Moines register and UNI website are reporting they are the odd team out, but the actual website for the games is saying they advance to play Serbia in the quarters...so who knows???
I'm still of the opinion that the US national team should be selected as a team, rather than some kind of all star club. Take our national collegiate champion, or NBA champion, and sub in some all stars for any foreign born players.
I think USA basketball kinda ran short on players - sounds like there were at least 3 international tournaments of some sort running this summer and they kinda bailed on the University games. First come, first serve gets it - UNI was first in line.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyclonepride
The tiebreaker rules were kinda weird in this thing, turns out UNI was even informed by Team USA basketball that if they went 3-1 they were in (which they did) - but no one read the tiebreaker rules closely enough until all the games were played.
It sucks for UNI, but they get extra practice for next season and it should help, although they've had at least 2 players go down with semi-serious injuries, so its not all roses.